The present application relates generally to hand-held kitchen tools and more particularly to a generally Y-shaped hand-held peeler with a pivotal protecting guard which safeguards the peeler blade(s) when not in use.
It is well-known that conventional kitchen peelers, such as julienne or vegetable/fruit peelers, must contain at least one cutting blade in order to perform their intended functions. These blades may contain sharpened, protruding teeth and/or a cutting edge to maximize their effectiveness. However, due to a lack of effective protection, the exposed blades are quickly dulled and damaged during non-use due to ordinary handling and storage. Furthermore, users are exposed to the risk of accidentally cutting themselves during the handling of such peelers because of the exposed blade.
It is known that a removable plastic cover can temporarily cover a peeler blade during non-use. In order to expose the blade, the cover is manually removed from the peeler and placed aside until use of the peeler is complete, whereupon the cover is aligned with the blade and manually replaced. However, a limitation of this cover exists in that it is often misplaced, is cumbersome to manually remove and replace, and generally exposes the user to accidental cutting of the user's fingers by necessitating the close proximity of the blade to the user's fingers during replacement.